Version 1.75 of the One Laptop Per Child laptop has passed testing at the FCC. There are no photos or advanced technical details on the FCC site (indeed, there’s a letter asking the FCC to keep all that information confidential for 180 days (PDF) to protect manufacturer Quanta’s trade secrets), but prior coverage from Engadget shows the netbook is very similar in appearance to prior OLPC models. (The planned OLPC tablet is apparently still some distance away.) The main difference from previous OLPCs seems to be that since OLPC has started using a low power Marvell Armada CPU, it...

Google has finally introduced the Chromebook, with models from Samsung and Acer. Google’s developers explained there’s a fundamental difference between the Chromebooks and netbooks. Chromebooks are essentially “tablets with keyboards,” whereas netbooks are shrunk-down Windows laptops. However, Google currently has no plans for putting Chrome OS on tablets without keyboards. The Samsung model will be priced at $429 for wifi-only, $499 with 3G. The Acer version will cost $349 “and up”. However, in addition to selling them outright, Google will be offering rental models at $28 per month for enterprise users, and $20 per month for educational users. (A...

Neowin reports that “a reliable source” has indicated that Google ChromeOS notebooks will be available for purchase around the end of June or the start of July, and that in addition to standard sales, Google will offer them on a monthly subscription basis. For $10-$20 per month, Google will replace faulty hardware for the life of the subscription, and will provide hardware refreshes as they become available. This essentially treats notebooks like a cable modem—a device leased from the cable company as part of your monthly fee in return for replacing it if anything goes wrong. I wonder...

In contrast to my review of Jolicloud from the other day, John Scalzi has posted a review of the other popular cloud-based operating system. Google sent him a Cr-48 with ChromeOS to try out, and he has set down his thoughts. Scalzi found a number of things to like about the hardware, and liked how ChromeOS was implemented largely to stay out of the user’s way. But he also zeroed in on a couple of the big problems with a cloud-based operating system. First, many of Google’s on-line applications simply aren’t “there” yet for heavy use. When he...

On his recent trip to America, Charlie Stross unfortunately discovered at the airport that, in the bustle of getting packed to head overseas, he had managed to forget his laptop. And he’d left his iPad and even his Bluetooth keyboard for his iPhone behind as well, since he wasn’t going to need them with the laptop around. But he found a novel solution: My wife, being sensible, hadn't left her laptop at home; rather than arm-wrestle with her for it, I bought an entry-level iPad on a buy-it-now-and-eBay-it-later basis. (An entry-level iPad (16Gb, no 3G)...

ReadWriteWeb has a report on Jolicloud, a cloud-based spinoff of Ubuntu with a user interface based on Chromium (the development version of the Google Chrome browser) and HTML5. This zippy little Linux OS is mainly meant for running on Intel-based netbooks and tablets, but today dropped an update that will make it usable on computers as much as ten years old. While this may not be directly related to e-books, anything that makes older hardware more usable means it could be more easily used for educational purposes by the needy—purposes such as reading e-books. I’ve been playing with Jolicloud...

The other day I wondered what a good name might be for the tablet/netbook hybrid computers that are hitting the market from a number of manufacturers. Now Engadget’s Joanna Stern is getting into the naming game, though this time taking aim at a slightly different netbook-related segment—computers that have the form factor and approximate price of a netbook but pack much better specs under the hood, such as the Dell M101z pictured at left. These, she posits, should be called “notbooks”—because their manufacturers are quick to insist that the devices are “not netbooks.” Intel, Stern explains, has so closely...

The Financial Times seems to think the time is now for its employees to be using tablets. PaidContent reports that the company is offering a £300 or $480 rebate to its 1,800 staff against purchase of an iPad or other tablet. Employees who already have a tablet will also receive the rebate. The Dell Inspiron Duo, that 10.1” netbook that has a revolving screen for use as a tablet, will be available for pre-order soon and start shipping in December. The base model will start at $549 (£449). Engadget has a brief review of the specs and a short...

I was watching the Steve Jobs Apple event yesterday afternoon, but had to go to work too soon afterward to put down my thoughts at the time. It didn’t seem terribly urgent since there wasn’t a whole lot relevant to e-books anyway. It was interesting to note that they said the Mac accounted for 33% of their revenue over the past year. What this means, taken another way, is that iPods, iPhones, and iPads—products that didn’t even exist ten years ago—made up just over 2/3 of their revenue. That’s twice as much as Macs, formerly their core product...

Pixel Qi is creating a new device that may well be the first of its kind—a self-contained 10” Pixel Qi monitor that connects to a laptop or “even some phones” (or, for that matter, a desktop) using wired or wireless USB. Pixel Qi’s 10” $275 swap-in displays had been available for Samsung N130 and Lenovo S10 netbooks, but they required end-users to install the parts themselves. This new device would act as a fully-powered stand-alone monitor, useful for more screen area or for showing someone else screen data. As far as I know, nobody’s come out...

Even though iPads and other tablets have largely usurped the limelight, netbooks are not going gently into that good night. And with good reason. The netbook is still a perfectly functional form factor for when you need a miniature alternative to a laptop, and could be great for e-reading if you’re willing to overlook the awkwardness of the mini-laptop form factor (or simply turn it on its side to use it like a tablet with a large sideways keyboard hanging off of it). Here are a few interesting netbook-related stories that have surfaced recently. Augen, More Often ...

On our sister blog Gadgetell, J.G. Mason posts an editorial calling the iPad a “trap” for the computer industry. Mason quotes an All Things D piece stating that the iPad is having a disruptive effect on low-end notebook computer sales as people delay or cancel notebook purchases to buy an iPad instead. Mason further calls the industry’s faddish focus on tablets to compete with the iPad another such disruption. Mason thinks that over time, the iPad (and presumably tablets in general) will develop out of its more limited present capabilities to become a larger, faster, and more capable...